Forrest forges a global career Little did graduate John Forrest know when he accepted a management traineeship with property giant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) (then Jones Lang Wootton) that he would still be with the company more than 20 years later, or that his career would see him working from Sydney, New York, Singapore, and now Chicago. John was certainly destined for a bright future, though. Having achieved outstanding results at school, he had his pick of university courses, but opted for property over law or medicine. ‘In those days, Alan Bond and Christopher Skase and those kind of tycoons were driving around in Bentleys and they all looked very exciting and flashy. And there was a huge property boom in the 80s. So I was watching all that during my high school years,’ he says. John chose to study the Bachelor of Land Economics at the UWS Hawkesbury campus. Again he performed very well academically, winning the University Medal, and making some great friendships, some of which have developed into lifelong relationships. Having received several job offers upon graduating, he chose the two-year graduate management training program with JLL, rotating through four different divisions. John was then asked to relocate to the US to learn about some emerging areas of the business that had yet to be introduced to the Asia-Pacific region. Though he had just embarked on an MBA, it was an opportunity too good to pass up – particularly as he had never even left Australia before. ‘I put the MBA on hold and took the opportunity to go to New York for three years, and worked in what was then the property fund management business, and then at our corporate real estate services businesses,’ John says. During his stint, he met his future wife, Juraporn, a New York native. Then in 1996 he was asked to return to the Asia-Pacific region to help start a new business within JLL. John and his wife chose to move to 12
GradLife Autumn 2014
Singapore, as he was able to continue his MBA there, but it ended up being a fortuitous decision for other reasons. ‘I didn’t know it at the time, but Singapore is by far the best location to do a regional role in Asia-Pacific from a lifestyle and business point of view. It’s just a fantastic formula,’ John says. John’s time in Singapore has seen him primarily hold regional roles with JLL, including responsibility for business lines such as Leasing and Tenant Representation, Project and Development Services, Facilities Management, and Corporate Solutions. Along the way John started several new businesses including Workplace Strategy, Corporate Residential Services and Sandalwood Retail Services. In 2008, John was appointed as CEO of JLL’s Corporate Solutions, Asia-Pacific business. With more than 130 strategic alliance clients in 14 countries – including the likes of Telstra, Centrelink, Suncorp and ANZ Bank in Australia – it is the largest provider of corporate real estate services and outsourcing solutions in the region. During his time as CEO, John also played an instrumental role in mergers and acquisitions that have established JLL as the largest provider of real estate services in India and expanded the platform in Japan and Australia. John took a step into the global arena two years ago, with a part-time role as Chairman of the Global Corporate Solutions Board, and has now been appointed CEO of JLL’s Corporate Solutions business in the Americas – a move that has seen him relocate to Chicago with his family, to work from the company’s global head office.
The key difference in this role will be the sheer geographic span and the scale, with John now having responsibility for businesses in 75 countries. ‘Outsourcing is a much more developed industry in the US, so it’s a very mature, sophisticated, developed market. But equally we’ve got to grow the business in Latin America, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa, which are very exciting frontier markets and environments,’ he says. ‘It’s very exciting as a new outsourcing industry is developing.’ In addition to being an important professional opportunity, the move to the US is also an exciting one for John’s family, which now includes four kids under 10. ‘My wife Juraporn is excited to be going back to the US after 17 years, and all her family is in New York, so it will be a couple of hours away instead of 18 hours. The move is partly about giving our kids a much deeper cultural emotional connection to the US,’ John says. Although his children were born and raised in Singapore, John maintains close ties with Australia. ‘The kids have quite an affinity for Australia. Our relatives are cattle farmers in Victoria, so we’ve been camping out on their properties. The kids just love it,’ he says. ‘And most family holidays are in Sydney with family and friends.’ John attributes his career success to being given lots of opportunity within a good company in a growth industry. ‘The company has always put lots of different challenges in front of me. I’ve had the opportunity to start and lead businesses, to undertake mergers and acquisitions, to work